|
Overall
Win/Loss Record (At Season’s End): 49-33,
second place Atlantic Division
|
13
|
At
Season’s End:
14
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team
Statistics and League Rank (At Season’s End)
|
Individual
Statistical Leaders (At Season’s End)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taking a Look Back at the Season that Once Was . . .
|
SDH Player of the Year:
Andray Blatche 
In a team which consistent of marginally disappointing performances from it's higher paid and higher profile players, it is nice to see someone who provided more bang for his buck despite having a checkered past. Being forced to leave in disgrace from his former team, the Washington Wizards, Andray Blatche remade himself in his new home as he came off the bench to lead the second unit in scoring while providing the energy and leadership that he did not show while playing for the Wizards. It must have ground the gears of Wizards' GM Ernie Grunfeld as he watched a former player perform so well in another team--especially since he is still paying said player 21$ million to get rid of him in the first place. Andray Blatche certainly have numerous sports writers in not only the District of Columbia, but also those who cover the NBA in general as they all wrote him off as a lost cause. Yet he silenced all his doubters to have an impressive season helping his team reach the playoffs thus becoming one of the feel good stories on the 2013 season.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Analysis:
They came into their new home, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NewYork with new look draped in all black and a whole new attitude as the team formerly known as the New Jersey Nets made their debut in the NBA. To prepare for the momentous occasion, the Nets set out during the off season to remake itself, paying no attention to the cost, from the sad sack team that they once were into a thoroughbred contender. Despite failing to acquire his most coveted prize, Dwight Howard, who ended up with the Los Angeles Lakers, Nets GM Billy King, nonetheless, went about to reshape the Nets' rather sad excuse of a roster into a team in which their new home fans would be proud of and he also had the resources to do it. With a new owner who had really deep pockets and was by no means patient enough to watch the Nets struggle once again in their new home, King knew that he would not only have the resources at his disposal, but also the backing of an owner to do whatever it took to make this downtrodden team a winner. With a blank check and his owner's blessing, King went on an such an off season shopping spree that would cost the team a grand total of 72.2$ million putting the Nets WAY over the league's salary cap and into luxury tax territory. First he went about retaining the services of their All Star point guard Deron Williams signing him to a maximum contract extension worth around 95$ million for five years and then went about surrounding Williams with a stellar supporting cast that would rival any in the NBA. In a move that shocked many, King essentially traded almost the entire roster of last season's team to the Atlanta Hawks in order to acquire William's future backcourt mate, Joe Johnson, in addition to the 60$ million that is owed to him for the next three years and he did not stop there. King went on to resign center Brook Lopez, who had shown signs of being a superstar but had his seasons cut short by injuries, to lucrative four year deal worth in the area of 50$ million and paired him with the former Mr. Kim Kardashian himself, Kris Humphries, who ironically posted the best numbers in his career during his public and rather messy divorce, for a cool 24$ million for next two years. King finally rounded out his starting five by giving a four year contract extension worth in the area of 40$ million to Gerald Wallace, who had joined the team late in the 2012 season and carried with him the reputation of being one of the toughest and best rebounding swing men in the NBA. Altogether, the starting five alone would cost the Nets a grand total of $342 million in new contracts and despite spending his team's entire salary cap and so much more on just five players, King was still about to use what little he had left in salary cap exemptions--the 6$ mid level exemption given to team who have gone over the salary cap along with veterans' exemption worth around 2$ million, to round out the roster rather nicely. King spent much of his team mid level exemption sign 6'9" sharp shooting power forward from Bosnia, Mirza Teletovic, at a reasonable three year deal worth 3$ million per year which was considered quite the coup at the time as Teletovic built himself a reputation as one of the best players in Europe. He also managed to snag one of the league's most prolific rebounders in the league in Reggie Evans for just 1.6$ million over three years and point guard CJ Watson, a key player who helped keep the Chicago Bulls on top of the Eastern Conference playing in place of the team's star injured Derrick Rose, for 1.8$ million for two year. King' s biggest coup, however, was picking up Andray Blatche off of waivers--a player who oozed talent and potential, but had been cast away in disgrace by his former team, the Washington Wizards, due to his poor work ethic and his attitude being a detriment to the team--for next to nothing and that addition would prove to be his best off season acquisition to date. Add last season's NBA All Rookie First team selection, Marshon Brooks, who looked to build from his phenomenal fresh man season and the Nets would have one of the most impressive and intimidating nine man rotations in the league coming into the 2012/2013 regular season. With such an impressive roster, a team like the Nets appeared to have enough depth, talent, and firepower the league by storm not only upstaging their soon cross town rival, the New York Knicks, but also rank statistically in the league's top five in every statistical category winning a minimum 55 to 60 games; sadly, however, as the season went on, the Nets proved indeed that appearances can be certainly be deceiving as they would fall well short of expectations making them probably one of the biggest letdowns in the 2013 NBA season. After starting the season with an impressive 11-4 record by the end of November, the Nets simply crashed and burned the following month as they lost 11 of 15 entering the New Year with a rather abysmal 16-15 record. That ensuing train wreck led to the eventual firing of head coach Avery Johnson for his flagrantly incompetent mishandling of the team thus shattering his once pristine image and sterling reputation as one of the premier young coaches in the NBA. The team would later bounce back into respectability under interim coach PJ Carlesimo as the would finish the season strong winning 34 of their last 52 games earning them a fifth place finish in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately Brooklyn would suffer an even worse humiliation at the hands of the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the NBA Playoffs as the Nets would shamefully lose to a team who they not only outmatched, but was also playing shorthanded as their roster had been decimated by injuries coming into the post season. Talk about false advertising: the Nets committed absolutely the worst case of fraud in NBA history as they come into the season looking all tough with their intimidating jet black uniforms with white trim only to exit it with their tail between their their legs looking like a bunch of two bit scrubs. For those who dare to consider such a debacle of a season as a success noting that the Nets improved their win total from 22 last season to 49, they need to be smacked upside the head because with all the money dropped in building that team, anything short of a top three finish and Conference Final showdown against the Miami Heat should be considered an absolute failure. Even as an overall team the Nets underwhelmed as they allowed their allowed their opponents to virtually have their way with them offensively as they were allowed to shoot better than .460 from the field. Their supposed cast iron starting five that was to rival any lineup in the league turned out to be a weak and frail as tin foil with players either showed the ravages of father time, as in the case with Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace, or in the sad infuriating case of Kris Humphries, chose to simply cash his 12$ million check and disappear. Even Deron Williams did not look that stellar either despite finishing second on the team in scoring with 18.9 points per game saw his assist numbers drop for the third straight year from nearly 13 per game while he still played in Utah Jazz all the way down to 7.7 now. What's even worse is that the Nets, thanks to the loose spending of their GM, Billy King, are essentially stuck shackled to players way with WAY over-bloated salaries and have proven to be nothing more than a sheep in wolves' clothing--looking all tough and intimidating on the outside, but soft and meek on the inside. Unless the Nets come out next season re-energized with a new sense of purpose, expect them to continue to disappoint yet again and show that are all flash with little or no substance to offer their opponents nor their fans. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, June 27, 2013
SDH Presents the 2013 End of Season NBA's Worst to First: 14. Brooklyn Nets
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
SDH Presents the 2013 End of Season NBA's Worst to First: 15. Los Angeles Lakers
|
Overall
Win/Loss Record (At Season’s End): 45-37,
third place Pacific Division
|
4
|
At
Season’s End:
15
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team
Statistics and League Rank (At Season’s End)
|
Individual
Statistical Leaders (At Season’s End)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taking a Look Back at the Season that Once Was . . .
|
SDH Player of the Year:
Earl Clark 
In a team that turned out to be a complete train wreck, it was nice to see that there was at least one bright spot to salvage from the wreckage as it came in the form of a 6'10" swingman that was often ignored throughout all the turmoil. Earl Clark was a simple add in from the massive mega deal that sent Dwight Howard to Los Angeles and was not even expected to make the roster let alone play a game. Yet he managed to persevere and when he got the chance, took the opportunity to show his team and its fans that they have a potential diamond in the rough. In the 59 games he had played, he started in 36 of them giving Laker fans something to smile about as they watch their highly anticipated championship team fall well short of expectations. It will be interesting to see what more we can expect from this up and coming young player in next upcoming seasons as he looks to have quite a solid career ahead of him.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Analysis:
It is difficult to determine whether to call the six month debacle otherwise known as the 2013 regular season of the Los Angeles Lakers should be determined as a tragedy or a comedy. For fans who bleed purple and goal, it must have been certainly difficult to watch their team who they anticipated returning to championship glory play so poorly and have to scratch and claw to reach the playoffs. For those who simply observe the drama take place as the team, coaching staff and front office were scrambling around like chickens with their heads cut off bumbling around as if it were a Three Stooges short film, it was rather hilarious to say the least. It certainly was tragic for Lakers owner , the late Jerry Buss, to spend his final days watching the team he spent more than 100$ million on fall so very short of expectation leading many to speculate that it was not just the cancer that killed him, but his passing was mainly due to a broken heart. For the sick individuals who would dance on Buss' grave as they resented his inane ability to flagrantly disregard the league's salary caps and luxury taxes because of his ridiculously deep pockets, there must be a sense of satisfaction to see Buss' latest concoction fall apart right in his face as he lay on his death bed. Either way, whether people anguished or reveled in the Lakers' misfortunes and the drama surrounding them or not, one thing remains certain--that the collapse of the once mighty Los Angeles Lakers was possibly one of the biggest story in not only basketball, but in all of professional sports as well. It all started in the previous off season where the Los Angeles Lakers, who have been capped out for years having a payroll that was almost twice the league's salary limit, was capable to sign Steve Nash to a three year deal worth 27$ million dollars. If it were not for trade exemption they received the previous season thanks to the trade that sent Lamar Odom, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, to the Dallas Mavericks, the Lakers would have never been able to offer Nash such a lucrative contract. Any other NBA team, it would not have been able to accomplish such a feat as the luxury tax penalties alone who have warded them away faster than the plague; however, the Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, who had a boss with extremely deep pockets and almost limitless resources, simply had to wave his magic wand to bring the 38 year old future Hall of Famer into the fold. Many viewed the new Laker acquisition with both awe and disgust as they saw the deal as another unjust case of the rich getting richer and it did not end there as Kupchack and Buss finagled a deal which would also add another superstar. As if having three NBA All Stars and future Hall of Famers was not enough, the Lakers went on to pull of one of the biggest and most complicated trades in league history that involved four teams, more than ten players, three first round draft pick, and the largest trade exemption that anyone has followed the NBA has ever seen in order to add an extra special gem to the already full strong box. Dwight Howard arrived in LA in the same spectacular fashion as Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Shaquille O' Neal before him--as the next great Laker center who bring championship glory to the team once again. Paired alongside veteran superstars in Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Steve Nash, Dwight was not only supposed to bring the Lakers back into champion contention, but carry on the legacy once those three rode off into the Sunset Strip together. The season had not even started and most analysts and sports media pundits already had the LA Lakers facing the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals--so when the Lakers stumbled through the preseason losing every game and opened the regular season winning just two of their first six games, one can understand why ownership and the front office entered into panic mode. Unfortunately that sense of panic led them to act rashly and fire the team's head coach Mike Brown six games into the season with literally no real backup plan forcing the team to desperately grasp straw in order to find Brown's replacement. It was a mix of the panic and desperation that would not only determine the future of the Lakers' regular season but also their chances for an NBA title, and it led both the team's head honchos, GM Mitch Kupchack and acting owner at the time, Jim Buss, to make one of the worst decisions that would send the franchise into a tailspin. Instead of picking candidates who had winning credentials such as a Nate McMillan, Jerry Sloan, or even former head coach Phil Jackson, Buss and Kupchak chose to bring in a coach that not only was the antithesis of what they wanted to accomplish, but also had previously been run out of the last city he coached for. Last season, Mike D'Antoni had exposed himself as a complete fraud as he was not even able to coach a New York Knicks team that consisted of Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, and Amare Stoudemire to a .500 record and was thus forced to resign in mid season and leave the Big Apple in disgrace. So when the Lakers' top brass proclaimed that this charlatan who would be the man to bring their team back to championship contention, it was certainly met with a high dose of skepticism to say the least and it essentially ruined what little credibility that both Kupchack and Buss still has. As a result of the string of rather unwise decisions by both men and their adamant justifications of them, the Lakers went from being one of the sawed after teams to becoming a complete train wreck and finished the season as a complete leaghing stock. Many shook their heads in dismay and disgust to see a team whose starting five was being paid more than 83$ million combined for that season alone play so poorly as they struggled to even attain the last playoff spot in the West, let alone show any ability to contend for a title. Dwight Howard entered the regular season a fraction of his former self as he neither as explosive or dominant as he was prior to the trade while partner in the front court, Pau Gasol would have his worst season in his professional career as he would post career lows in scoring (13.7) and field goal percentage (.466). Steve Nash finally looked as if Father Time had finally caught up with him as the player that seemed ageless in eyes of many now started to look his age while Metta "whatever his name is" continued to show a steady decline of his athletic abilities with each passing. That resulted in the 35 year old Kobe Bryant having to shoulder the burden yet again of carrying his teammates on his back as he spent the season compensating for their shortcomings to go along with the ineptitude of his team's coaching staff and front office. All that pressure came to a head when he would suffer a season ending injury right before the playoffs and would be forced to sit by and watch his team thoroughly get humiliated by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. Now that the Lakers' season has mercifully come to an end, the question is what next as their enter the off-season with the unsavory decision of what to do with Dwight Howard, whose contract had expired upon the team's rather embarrassing exit in the post season. With Howard eligible to receive a maximum contract of almost 120$ million for five years, do the Lakers really want to invest that much in a player who only helped them win just 45 games? Even without Howard, the Lakers would still be paying through the nose in luxury tax penalties as they would have pay almost 40$ million alone; however, add Howard into the mix and many project the Lakers would be on the hook for luxury taxes close to sixty or seventy million per year for the next three to four years. Essentially the Lakers are now stuck because they have this aging team and are virtually handcuffed financially with a payroll more than 100$ million--and that's not including the more than 70$ million dollars in luxury tax penalties per season for keeping such a team together. And what is even more sad is that with the team that they have, they still will never be anywhere near to returning to the NBA Finals anytime soon. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
SDH Presents the 2013 End of Season NBA's Worst to First: 16. Milwaukee Bucks
|
Overall
Win/Loss Record (At Season’s End): 38-44,
third place Central Division
|
16
|
At
Season’s End:
16
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team
Statistics and League Rank (At Season’s End)
|
Individual
Statistical Leaders (At Season’s End)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taking a Look Back at the Season that Once Was . . .
| SDH Player of the Year: Larry Sanders 
This guy was not even on the radar when the Bucks entered the regular season and looked to be on his way out very soon. After having an all but nonexistent first two seasons and almost forgettable Summer League and preseason performances, Larry Sanders was essentially given up for dead by Bucks fans and many NBA observers. So imagine the shock and amazement when he came out of nowhere and posts the best season of his entire career averaging a near double double in points and rebounds while logging a couple block shots as well. In terms of production, he was probably the most consistent and efficient offensive producer on the team as he shot over .500 from the field and had a per 40 minutes averages of 14.3 points, 14.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. The jury is still out however whether Sanders' performance will become the beginning of a something special or end up as just a one time affair.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Analysis:
At the start of the 2012/2013 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks looked as if they would be a team that had all the ingredients to have a memorable breakout year. Last season they had acquired sharp shooting two guard Monta Ellis to pair alongside their tabbed franchise player Brandon Jennings to form one of the most potent back court combinations since Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The Bucks had also had welcomed back last season's candidate for most improved player of the year, Ersan Ilyasova, who not only set career highs in scoring (13.0ppg) and rebounds (8.8), but also shot a blistering .455 from beyond the arc. In addition to a solid tandem of role player which included veterans Mike Dunleavy and Drew Gooden along with young prospects Ekpe Udoh and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the Bucks also added veterans Samuel Dalembert and Marquis Daniels to further bolster an already deep and talented roster. One could have gone far as to call the Bucks a poor man's version of the Oklahoma City Thunder as they were a team that consisted of two primary scorers capable of pushing the game's tempo and a team capable of forcing turnovers for quick and easy offense giving the potential of an exciting team to watch in the NBA. Unfortunately, despite possessing all the tools to take the league by storm, the Bucks came stumbling out of the gates as the team that looked to have so much going for it fell flat on their faces. Neither Brandon Jennings or Monta Ellis provided the anticipated offensive fire power as they both struggled from the field and although they both led the team in scoring and took the majority of the shots, they were neither efficient or that reliable. Ellis who was know to be solid from the field as a career .456 shooter had the worst shooting performance of his career making less that .420 of his shots while Brandon Jennings, despite averaging a decent 17.5 per game, shot an abysmal .399 from the field giving Milwaukee, instead of the high octane offense that was promised, one of the worst performing offenses in the league. After being signed to a lucrative long term deal worth in the area of 40$ million for five years, Ersan Ilyasova would come into the season ice cold from the field forced the Bucks' coach at the time, Scott Skiles, to bench the Turkish big man making him look like an overall bust and a blight on the face of the Bucks. As for the rest of the team, Drew Gooden who gave a solid contribution last season of 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game was a complete no show, Sammy Dalembert looked as if age had got the better of him as his performance declined as well, and the rest of the Bucks, they continued to remain a non factor on the offensive end. Milwaukee was rather fortunate that their poor showing did not affect their playoff chances as they played in possibly one of the worst divisions in the NBA as it consisted of two hopeless cellar dwelling teams and two equally poorly performing offenses as the Bucks. The Indiana Pacers were expected to not only to easily take the Central Division, but also finished among the top teams in the Eastern Conference and the league; however, they had an unexpectedly slow start and had struggled to maintain a over .500 for much of the season. The Chicago Bulls looked to be another team heading into a tailspin as not only would they be without their star player, Derrick Rose, for the entire season, but they would be also be playing with a gutted out roster as they had to break apart their second unit, probably one of the best in the league, due to salary cap concerns. Like Indy, Chicago would also struggle to win games and maintain a respectable above .500 record giving the Bucks more than one opportunity to take first place of the Central Division on numerous occasions as it was in such a sad state. As last season, both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons maintained their status as the league's designated whipping boys leaving the mediocre Bucks to be nestled in between two chronic under performers and two teams that were playing for positioning in the NBA draft lottery. Nonetheless, despite Milwaukee's ability to tread water over the course of the season, it was not enough to save the floundering career of head coach Scott Skiles, who after bringing the Bucks to winning a respectable 45 game season in his first season, failed to maintain the same consistent performance. Although he should be given much of the credit for keeping the Bucks competitive despite the rash of injuries and not having the most talented of rosters to say the least, Skiles fate was essentially sealed thanks to his rather abrasive demeanor and coaching style which alienated his players and started to irk the front office as well. Within two months of the season Skiles was relieved of his coaching duties and immediately replaced by one of his assistants, Jim Boylan, who almost immediately gained a rapport with the team and got them to perform better. He helped the struggling Ilyasova regain his confidence that was all but shattered by Skiles by returning him to the starting lineup and it paid dividend as Ersan found his lost shooting stroke and returned to being the solid third offensive option that the Bucks needed him to be. Thanks to Boylan, the Bucks went from being a sob story to a feel good story of the NBA regular season as they went from struggling to maintain a .500 record to becoming a respectable force as they finished the month of January and the first half of the season with a 24-20 record. Unfortunately the Bucks would not be able to maintain the momentum that they had built in January as they would sink like a stone lose eight of twelve in February, nine of sixteen in March, and seven of ten by season's end in April. They had gone from almost being assured a top five playoff seeding to basically scrambling to keep what little ground it had for the eighth and final spot fending off the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers, who had been gaining on the Bucks as the floor was eroding right from under Milwaukee's feet. Fortunately for the Bucks, they managed to secure the final spot in playoffs and were subsequently eliminated quickly and easily by the future NBA Champion Miami Heat; however, although the Bucks had managed to salvage their season, their future looks rather bleak as Milwaukee seemed to have reached its peak and will be heading back to square one. The Brandon Jennings experiment has failed to deliver the dividends that had been projected as both Jennings and Milwaukee will be looking to part ways soon as he has become a restricted free agent and does not seem that he does not see himself spending the rest of his career in Milwaukee and who can blame him, really? Milwaukee is a virtual wasteland that has no chance of being a championship contender nor does it have any hope of being better than marginal or worse than mediocre. Due to its rather small market and limted resources, the Bucks will not be able to compete dollar for dollar against the bigger market teams who have ability to snag up all the top tier talent. The only way Milwaukee ever has a real chance to get better is through the draft and the only chance of even getting close to snagging an star quality player is to tank the season bad enough in order for them to be in the running for a top five pick. It is almost a certainty that Brandon Jennings will certainly not want to waste his career on a team going nowhere which has to rebuild every two or three years because it can neither attract or keep talent capable enough to bring Milwaukee a championship. So Bucks fans will have no choice but to see their team go down the drain and start over once again as both them and their team will forever be stuck in an endless cycle of mediocrity yet again. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday, June 23, 2013
SDH Presents the 2013 End of Season NBA's Worst to First: 17. Utah Jazz
|
Overall
Win/Loss Record (At Season’s End): 43-39,
third place Northwest Division
|
17
|
At
Season’s End:
17
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team
Statistics and League Rank (At Season’s End)
|
Individual
Statistical Leaders (At Season’s End)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taking a Look Back at the Season that Once Was . . .
|
SDH Player of the Year:
Enes Kanter 
Here was a young guy that had little if any basketball experience and was expected to be quite a gamble after being selected third overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. However, Turkish born big man Enes Kanter, at the tender age of 20 years old, proved to be quite the solid investment after posting quite an impressive regular season. After posting rather insignificant numbers his rookie year, Kanter came into this season stronger and more confident showing all who doubted he would amount to anything wrong. In a little over 15 minutes per game, Kanter came of the bench to average close to eight points, six boards, and a blocked shot per game while leading the team in field goal percentage as well. It certainly makes Jazz fans eager to see what he will do for an encore as he has yet to reach his full potential and at such a young age and with his incredible mix of size, strength, athleticism and skills, Kanter's ceiling appears to be almost limitless.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Analysis:
Throughout the 2013 Season, the Utah Jazz had been treading water as it maintained a winning record throughout the season and looked as if they would make its second straight playoff appearance in the post Jerry Sloan. Unfortunately, after a rough stretch which saw the Jazz win just three of fifteen games, they lost any chances of making the playoffs as their key rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets swooped right past them. Now the Jazz has to live with the onerous distinction of being the only team in the league that finished with a over .500 record and be forced to watch the playoffs on the sidelines and wait the this summer's NBA Draft. It almost seems unjust considering that the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, who both finish with .500 and under records, yet were still able to qualify for their respective playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, while Utah, who in all accounts, greatly outperformed those two teams and were forced to sit the post season out. Sadly, that is the fate of a team that has the unfortunate luck to be stuck in the ultra competitive and far stronger Western Conference and now the Jazz's front office enter the off season with a very difficult decision--do they either keep the team together and hope for the best next season or do they simply tear the team down and look to rebuild. Right now the team is in quite a very precarious position as they are stuck in the middle between being a team that is not good enough to make the playoffs, yet not bad enough to earn them a good chance of winning the draft lottery. The team is also in a very good position to tear the team down and start over as they have three expiring contracts worth in the excess of 32$ million coming off of the books and a deal worth around 8$ million going into its last season which it can easy buy out totaling the savings and salary cap space to a cool $40 million. Unfortunately, they may be forced to keep those players as Utah has never been considered a desirable locale for prospective free agents and will not be able to attract the talent needed to bring the Jazz back into playoff contention; however, if the Jazz do decide to resign their free agents, it will most likely be stuck with the same team that try as it might, will not be any better than a marginal playoff team at best. Although Utah does boast one of the deepest treasure troves of young talent in the NBA, would it be wise to through these lambs to the wolves for a fan base that has been used to winning for close to thirty years. Either way, it does look good for the Jazz who have to choose between remaining to float around in mediocrity with the team it has or simply tear the sucker down and look forward to a long and painful rebuilding period where it will be uncertain that they will EVER return to the post season. And as for the players who are up for free agency, although they are quite talented and impressive in their own right, none of them can really be considered as neither marquee name material or players that the team can invest long term into the future. Throughout his career, Al Jefferson has proven to be one of the most talented and consistent men in the league able to put up 20 point and 10 rebound nights on most occasions; however, even at his best he was not able to carry the team to the post season and has never shown himself to be franchise player material. Paul Milsap, who like Jefferson, will also be looking for a big payday as he has shown himself to be one of the best power forwards in the league; however, after seeing his numbers drop slightly over the last couple of year, he seems to have reached his ceiling and does not look as if he will get any better. The same goes for Mo Williams, who at thirty years of age, has probably seen his best basketball pass by and is in no ways the prototype point guard that the Jazz need to move forward into the future as Williams has been often regarded as more of shoot first "combo-guard" more than the more traditional facilitator that the Jazz need him to be. All three of those players would find it more in their best interests to look for greener pastures and part ways with the Jazz as they will most likely be stuck in the same rut if they continue to remain in Utah which might even prove to be detrimental to the team's long term future. Plus it will certainly be better for the young players who have been patiently waiting in the wings for their chance to be handed the reins of the team if the Jazz kindly show Williams, Jefferson and Milsap the door. Both Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter have proved themselves to be more than capable big men who can start on any team in the NBA and have both recently turned 21 years old; however, is it fair to put the weight of the world upon the shoulders of two young men who by all accounts, would be in their senior year had they been in college? Some may consider such a prospect as a disaster waiting to happen as they will be plenty of pressure to perform as they face an extremely proud and very particular fan base that is used to the best and heaven forbid, of either one or both of those prized gems fall to injury, the Jazz will no longer have a backup plan. The only player in that young talented roster filled with some many X factors who can be truly seen as a sure thing is Gordon Hayward who has shown numerous time that he has not only the ability, but also the poise, focus and maturity to provide a consistent source of leadership for this team; however, at the tender age of 23, just like Kanter and Favors, is it too much to put such high expectations on such a young player? Although the fans love their team, Salt Lake City fans are one of the hardest crowds in the league as they not only expect excellence on the court but also off the court as well expecting these young twenty somethings to be morally upstanding citizens at the same time--quite the difficult high wire act for young men who have recently just attained their independence as adults. Either choice they make, the Utah Jazz will still still be looking to be heading to the lottery once again--the only difference being how high or how low they will be headed in the draft. At least if they decide to take a chance and face the long hard road towards rebuilding, the Jazz will at least have a greater chance to attain the number one pick, or at the very least land in the top five; however, if they do not, they can find themselves narrowly missing the playoffs yet again and being stuck at the bottom of the lottery teams with a low thirteenth or fourteenth pick. Certainly it would make better sense to choose the first option as it provides the Jazz to find a star quality player in the top five rather than in the bottom 14th to 16th spots; however, for the coaching staff and front office, it is certainly not a desirable prospect as they will most likely be the first to go if things start to backfire. Thus to maintain any sense of job security, both head coach Ty Corbin and GM Dennis Lindsey will find it in their best interest to keep the status quot as long as possible even if it means that doing so will shackle the team to years of mediocrity. So it will definitely be interesting what will happen in the next few months as it will determine what direction the team will take not only the next season, but potentially the next five or six upcoming as well and hopefully they will make the right choice and not settle for the easy way out. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)